This comment was posted to reddit on Apr 01, 2015 at 6:45 pm and was deleted within 5 hour(s) and 23 minutes.

Patton Oswalt Tweets In Defense Of Comedy — And Trevor Noah

I'm not the "SJW movement" exists. SJW is a pejorative aimed at a very broad subset of the left. The social justice movement exists, but is the term SJW designed to apply to all of them? I thought not. But I dunno.

At some point "Social Justice" became the same thing as "Terrorism", and by that I mean, it seeks to remove something (free speech, etc.) because of the "fear" or potential of something (terror attacks, triggers) happening.

It seems a bit histrionic to equate the removal of liberties in the name of fighting terrorism to the push for more inclusive and less offensive language. One has legal backing, for one thing. While the other can be debated, can be easily flouted, is fluid and contextual. And I don't think the social justice movement is attempting to remove free speech either; rather, it is attempting to make people think about what the say, and the consequences of their words. I don't think this is a bad thing.

I find it ironic that the SJW movement seeks to point out privilege, but only has the time to find these things to be offended by because of their privilege.

The privilege of being a wealthy person in the first-world is generally acknowledged; this doesn't make their points automatically invalid.

I think everyone should get a little bit thicker skin, and learn that JOKES are JOKES.

And jokes can also reflect both personal and societal views and opinions and biases - ever heard the phrase, "a lot of truth is said in jest"? And they can have real world effects beyond making people laugh. Jokes can be cruel and harmful. I mean, I'd hazard that most bullying takes the form of jokes aimed at the victim, for example. Saying "jokes are jokes" ignores the vast power that words have over us.

I wouldn't want to be friends with anyone who couldn't take a joke regardless of their ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, religion etc.

Conversely, if I were a member of a disadvantaged group, I'd imagine I'd feel pretty uncomfortable if I had a friend who constantly made offensive jokes aimed at me. I feel there's a middle-ground here.